Boosting the Bioavailability of Curcumin
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DESCRIPTION: Dietary strategies, including the use of black pepper (piperine), can boost blood levels of curcumin from the spice turmeric by up to 2,000%.
Why would we care about boosting curcumin levels? I started talking about this golden spice pigment in Which Spices Fight Inflammation? ( and Spicing Up DNA Protection ( and then moved on to treating actual clinical conditions in Turmeric Curcumin and Rheumatoid Arthritis ( and Turmeric Curcumin and Osteoarthritis ( Next I’ll end this video series with some cautionary notes in Who Shouldn’t Consume Curcumin or Turmeric (
I’ve previously covered this topic of food synergy in videos such as Apples and Oranges: Dietary Diversity ( and Garden Variety Anti-Inflammation ( that emphasize the importance of eating a variety of plant foods to take advantage of some of these interactions.
The black pepper mechanism reminds me of the grapefruit (Tell Your Doctor If You Eat Grapefruit, and broccoli (The Best Detox, stories. A testament to the power of plants (
The painkilling properties of aspirin mentioned in the video are actually found throughout the plant kingdom: Aspirin Levels in Plant Foods (
In some circumstances, traditional medicine wisdom seems incredible (Tomato Effect, in others, dangerous (Get the Lead Out, But that’s what we now have science for!
Have a question for Dr. Greger about this video? Leave it in the comment section at and he’ll try to answer it!
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